Pets, Judges, Retsina and Knishes

City MD meet City DVM - If people have walk-right-in urgent medical care, why shouldn't pets? They should and do. You and your pet can now walk right into an emergency facility if the pet's in an emergency situation. On Second Avenue between 64th and 65th Streets, there's the Veterinary Emergency Group for emergency and urgent care for pets. Like the City MDs and Urgent Care for people, the veterinarians at the new facility are not intended to be your pet's primary vet. They're there for the times when your pet requires immediate medical intervention and your regular vet is not available.

Not so casual, not so fast - The rage, the trend these days is fast casual dining. Some think it's oxymoronic (hmm, that really says it all) to think of "dining" as being a "fast" experience. Fast casual sounds more either eat-on-the-run, or eat and run. Without getting further into the weeds on that one, Limani, in Rockefeller Center, a Mediterranean restaurant with an emphasis on Greek cuisine, , is the epitome of dining. Not fast casual. Yet not formal. Just civilized dining. No rushing. No stools or backless chairs. No communal tables. In some establishments, those dining solo are relegated to communal seating, which is okay if you want it. Not all solos do. A quibble I do have is that Limani and other higher-end restaurants don't have retsina, a Greek wine. According to an article in the NY Times earlier this year, retsina appears to be having a "renaissance." It's a cheaper wine enjoyed by working types and students in Greece and must be too upscale for a restaurant that's not fast casual. Always a price to be paid. So, if you're looking for fast casual "dining" in Rockefeller Center, have a seat and try Roberta's pizza on the plaza just outside Limani's. If you want retsina, you'll have to find a Greek taverna in Manhattan. Or Astoria. You decide.

Next comes the robe - Grassroots action was in full swing as 40 voting members of the Democratic County Committee for the 9th Judicial District in Manhattan nominated Upper East Sider Erik Grey to fill the Civil Court seat vacated by Judge Jennifer Schecter when she was nominated as a Supreme Court Justice and is on the ballot in the November election. It's never easy to gather members on short notice, let alone on an upcoming holiday weekend, but mission was accomplished. Grey is also on the ballot in the November election. Judge Schecter is best known these days for having rejected President Trump's attempt to dismiss a defamation suit brought against him in NYS Supreme Court because he was a sitting president. Looks like Trump will have to sit for a deposition. Time will tell.

Whew, no gentrification! - As they walked along the south side of East Houston Street toward the Bowery, a couple who had walked the streets of the Lower East Side for at least 60 years, stopped and gasped as they passed yet another shuttered store. "This is too much," the man said to the woman, "It can't be, not Yonah Schimmel’s. I can't believe it," he went on, almost tearful. "You better believe it," she admonished, “that’s the world today.” Walking and shaking their heads, they approached Forsythe Street, and stopped. Their faces brightened. Smiles. There it was - Yonah Schmimmel's Knish Bakery - the more-than-hundred-year old knishery (poetic license), still standing. The couple had mistakenly thought it was on the same block as the now demolished Landmark Cinema. The LES has a vestige of what once was. And life goes on. With Yonah Schimmel's standing tall and thriving. L’Chaim.